Cheer Up New England: The Top Ten Reasons Why the Playoff Loss Shouldn’t Get You Down
Turn that frown upside down Patriots nation.
It’s 9:13 a.m., Monday morning, January 25, 2016. And our beloved New England Patriots professional football club just suffered a brutal defeat against the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship Game yesterday afternoon.
Like any game that ends a championship-or-bust season, this one stings; you can feel the pall over the Northeast this morning as the boys in blue and red and silver lick their wounds and the rest of the country licks its chops. So it is, the cost of perpetual, sustained excellence in an era of forced parity and year-long true crime sagas devoted to ball pressure.
We at United Way are committed to looking at the bright side of things. Whether it’s the belief that we can work together to close the achievement gap or equip families with the skills and resources to lift themselves out of poverty, pushing through challenges and looking towards a bright future is square in our wheelhouse. Allow us then to work some of that feel-good sorcery for you, ailing Patriots fan…
Top Ten Reasons Why the Playoff Loss Shouldn’t Get You Down
10. That gigantic snowstorm completely missed us. And it’s going to be 40 degrees later this week.
9. Thanks to your support and the generosity of the National Grid Foundation, there are many low-income families out there who can turn the heat on.
8. This guy:
7. Granted the less we hear about TJ Ward and Von Miller and Peyton Manning and other Broncos players these days the better, but our comrades at Mile High United Way are doing awesome work. This story, about a young man who made his dream of becoming a police officer come true, was especially cool.
6. Whatever happens on the field, it’s pretty much guaranteed our team is made up of much better karaoke singers.
5. Our pal Matthew Slater, who helps lead the charge with his teammates to do amazing things in the community on behalf of United Way, is a new dad!
4. The 31 Youth Venture teams are busy–as we speak–prepping their social innovation projects, undeterred by the big game heartbreak, set to take their communities by storm with their thoughtfulness and ingenuity.
3. Look at it this way: after seeing what the Panthers did to the Cardinals, the Broncos probably did us a solid by letting themselves take the inevitable beatdown in our stead. Thanks guys!
2. We have plenty of inspiring, high-impact volunteer activities you can jump into to take your mind off of the game. This can be especially helpful when that obnoxious Jets fan your work with tries to talk trash, and you can just tell him “Sorry, I don’t have time to chat, I need to go and read to young children and share with them the love of learning so they’ll enter kindergarten on a path towards success and, eventually, a lucrative career in space aeronautics.”
1. And your number one reason: